Immelman is best at Western
 Trevor Immelman celebrates a birdie putt on 18 and a Wester Open win (Reuters Photo) |
Trevor Immelman stared at the hole and savored the moment. Then, he seized the opportunity.
Immelman birdied the 18th hole and held off Tiger Woods and Matthew Goggin to win the Western Open in Lemont, Ill., yesterday for his first PGA Tour victory.
Immelman needed to par the 18th to win. Instead, he knocked in a 32-foot putt for a birdie, putting him at 13-under-par 271 for the tournament -- two strokes ahead of Woods (68) and Goggin (69).
``It's an incredible feeling," Immelman said. ``Obviously, it hasn't quite sunk in yet."
Vijay Singh, the leader through three rounds, was 2 over for the day and fell out of contention. Singh and defending champion Jim Furyk finished at 9 under, along with Tim Clark, Stephen Leaney, Stewart Cink and Carl Pettersson.
Phil Mickelson shot 71 and finished 3 over in his first tournament since the US Open, where a double bogey on the final hole cost him the championship. Immelman birdied the 15th and 16th holes to go to 13 under. He let out a grin after hitting a 10-foot putt on 16.
The South African, who has four European tour victories, bogeyed 17 but made up for it on the 18th and finished at 4-under 67.
Some of the world's best golfers tried to catch him yesterday, but Immelman didn't flinch. The bogey on 17 was ``quite unfortunate." Woods had just finished his round when Immelman reached No. 18.
``At that moment, you've got to turn around and say to yourself, `OK, I made the choice to be a professional golfer . So if I'm not going to enjoy this moment when I've got a chance to win a tournament, then maybe I need to take stock of my life and go back to school or something like that,' " Immelman said.
LPGA -- Brittany Lincicome spoiled Michelle Wie's bid for her first professional victory -- and took most of the drama out of the finale, too.
The long-hitting Lincicome won the
The 20-year-old Lincicome, a 4-and-3 winner over Wie in the quarterfinals Saturday, had a 5-up lead after eight holes against the 46-year-old Inkster and ended the match with a conceded par on the par-4 16th.
European -- Stephen Dodd made a 50-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole on the way to a 2-under 70 in windy conditions to win the European Open in Straffan, Ireland, by two strokes.
The Welshman, who turns 40 next week, finished with a 9-under 279.
